Talk:Tips On How To Photograph Hot Wheels
More on Lighting Hi Kenny, I REALLY like your article about Tips On How To Photograph Hot Wheels I'm ALWAYS working on the best way to take the nicest shot. So I'm Honored that you'd choose one of my photos for your article. It would be nice, however, if you could give a shout-out to the photographer.,,, But that's not my point of this input. Could you please go into more detail about the TYPE of lighting to use? I've experimented with Incandescent, Fluorescent, and LEDs. So far I've noticed that it's a matter of removing the yellow light of Incandescent, and trying to replace it with 'Blue-Light' that's lost. So therefore I use a "True-Lite" bulb (more blue) along with a fluorescent, PLUS, LEDs. What's YOUR favorite method? Vista69 04:38, 30 December 2008 (UTC) :You know, I got so engrossed into making sure there weren't any typos or anything, that it totally slipped my mind to credit the photographers! Thanks for pointing this out to me, and I have corrected that oversight. :As to what type of lighting I prefer: I have a four-foot long fluorescent fixture above my photo stand and the kind of bulbs I like best are in it - "Bright White," is what they're called. Also, I don't know if many digital cameras have the adjustability that mine has, but it has a setting where I can choose what type of light it is and the computer inside the camera automatically adjusts things to make it look like natural lighting. Therefore, if I'm using incandescent lighting, I can take that "pale yellow" look out of my images. Certain kinds of fluorescent lights have to be adjusted for, but Bright White seems to work quite well with my normal "daylight" setting. I shield the fluorescent light totally from hitting the vehicles I'm photographing, by placing a cover over them and covering up the sides and back. The only light that gets on my vehicles is what is reflected onto them by me, using two sheets of bright white printer paper. I take most of my images on a sheet of bright white printer paper, and this helps to reflect more light up to my vehicle. When I use a picture for the background or a prop, the bright white printer paper seems to work well making my subjects look "natural" and well-lit. I really try to avoid dark images. :Another little trick I use, which is really advanced, so there wasn't a place for it in the article, but when I have bright areas on a dark picture which needs lightened up to bring out details, I'll duplicate just the bright spots before the image is lightened and leave this small portion of the image exactly in place over the full image below. Then I will lighten the full image quite a bit, which would have totally washed out the bright spots, sacrificing any detail they may have had, and just lighten the bright spot I've duplicated a tiny little bit. Then I erase the edges of the bright spot I've duplicated with a fogging eraser, and this helps it to blend in the lightened image below it. This keeps the detail in the bright spots which would have otherwise been lost when lightening the complete image. Of course it goes without saying that I try to remove all lint off my images by cloning the lint specks away. And any imperfections in the Hot Wheel itself, such as incomplete paint, rough casting around windows, etc., get cloned away so that the vehicle looks as perfect as it can be. I figure, I'm not necessarily representing a car I own, but what that particular model was supposed to look like from the factory. Sometimes the chrome isn't perfect on the wheels - I fix this also. I try to present as little distractions as I can that will cause the viewer's attention to be drawn away from the overall presentation of the car itself. The car is the star! :I hope this information helps and it wasn't too rambling - which I'm prone to do when it comes to photography! I also like to photograph insects, especially Butterflies, which you can see here. HaarFager 08:19, 30 December 2008 (UTC) :::Here are 2 photos, not happy about the out of focus near the front, but this will give you an idea too, on how someone like myself can really fix up a photo. Not sure if you want this posted here. Fantazim 20:56, 30 December 2008 (UTC) ::::Thanks for the additional tips about the the lighting, Kenny. I like to use the white reflective background too. I use a couple white plastic bin covers. I also have a clear blue cover that I shine a light through which I think helps to add the blue lost with incadesent lights. Later Vista69 21:37, 30 December 2008 (UTC) :::::I just happened by here and noticed the new messages - I don't know why I didn't get one of those auto-generated e-mails telling me about them, though. But, as to the cropping you did, Bill, that's exactly the type of thing that improves pictures for the better. The only thing I would ask would be about the comment you made on the out-of-focus area near the front. Is this because your focal point is somewhere just past the car itself, or is this because your camera is too close to the subject and won't focus that close? Because if it won't focus that close, you can move the camera back a little to a spot where the car is in sharp focus, always keeping in mind that the focal point should be a spot midway of the vehicle, and this will make sure the car has the best chance of being all in focus. And then crop it down like you did on the picture below to highlight the car. You just need to keep in mind that the car should get all the focus and attention, not the background scenery. If the background is a little blurry, that's all right, as long as the car is sharply focused. HaarFager 03:08, 31 December 2008 (UTC) ::I did this by using 2 pictures as you stated before, somewhere in here up above. I used ACDsee, by lassoing parts of one image to the other. Not a huge fan of ACDSee, but I redid my pc few months ago, and just waiting to put adobe back in. This scene takes place at a train club and only so much room to get the camera near where I wanted. But after reading your great tips on focal points, it helps me even that much more now. Fantazim 03:29, 31 December 2008 (UTC) Overall Great job guys putting this together! It looks good. I think I may add a section on Photoshop but thats about it. I'm still in Wisconsin but will be back in Arizona tomorrow. I'll add some more info when I get back to my own computer. I took a ton of pics of my collection here in Wisconsin so I can wait to start posting pix! Til then, have a great New Years! BigBadBrad01 23:18, 30 December 2008 (UTC) Photo Gallery Image:Since_68_Straight_Pipes_B4_01.jpg|Before Fixing the Photo Image:Since_68_Straight_Pipes_01.jpg|Finished Photo